Tag: Today in America

 

his article will be a snapshot to remember the events affecting US politics despite the news cycle potentially glossing over the stories for the sake of ratings.

 

We are inundated by noise, and short memories.

This might feel like a barbed piece against mainstream and independent media – and it is, because it needs to be said.  Clickbait, sensationalism, and trending seem to be a lot more important than substance.  The industry has evolved to be that way.  Sadly, it is all about the mighty algorithm, and this algorithm is people’s attention span.

Important stories get buried all the time in the national discourse, while sometimes incidental-at-best attention grabbers get national attention and go viral.  This is true for independent media as well as for mainstream media.  To be fair, that’s not everybody with a platform – but definitely the majority.  Even some with good intentions fall into this trap.

At Half Life Crisis I’ve been writing pieces and warnings about how authoritarian propaganda tactics are becoming more prominent.  That is why I am adamant about preventing this misinformation from continuing.  Though I have to admit it does feel like I am constantly screaming into a void.  Especially when we see a lot of misleading voices having a huge platform.

April 2024 in the USA.

There is a lot that occurred in April 2024.  The arguably most significant event is the ongoing hush-money criminal trial against former U.S. President Trump.  This trial is less about his infidelity and more about the misuse of campaign funds and hiding information about his character.  The substance on those would have been key attributes leading to the 2016 presidential election.  Yes, accountability for these criminal proceedings took many years to reach the bench!

On a related Trump situation, the US Supreme Court conservative majority seems to agree with awarding former US President Trump unlimited power through immunity!  Think about this for a moment, they actually are arguing giving the president the power of executing (as in murdering) political rivals, or anybody Trump would find inconvenient – as an official function.  And that insane rationale comes behind a myriad of demonstrable criminal charges against Trump.

Also, there is a civil war inside the GOP as they disagree on policy and personalities.  The so called MAGA Republicans have been losing traction over great swats of the country, but their loyal followers are still very vocal, and have been advocating for violence should Trump be defeated again. They are clinging to the “big lie” that perpetuates Trump’s inaccurate assertion that he won the 2020 election.  He did not, Trump pursued more than 60 court cases across the country and won zero, because there is simply no evidence for the 2020 election being rigged.

Also, the US Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mike Johnson was saved largely by the Democrats from being kicked out by his own Republican party, an effort led by MAGA Republican Georgia Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene.  Keep in mind that she was mostly against the economic support for Ukraine’s defense, which by the way it is a world-wide and National Security concern she at the very least does not seem understand, and many around the world pray she is not trying to directly sabotage.  By the way the GOP has a one-person majority on the House of Representatives right now, let that sink in.

Also, the impeachment investigation against incumbent US President Biden has unsurprisingly yield zero evidence against him.  The chairman of that committee Republican Representative James Comer has not been able to provide an iota of proof for a Biden-related crime, and despite that they continue to spend an undisclosed amount of tax payers’ money and elected representatives and staff man-hours every single day for the last few years.  Let that sink in too!

Finally, there the tensions at the geopolitical level, and the conflict is expanding exponentially – and has been already reaching American soil.  Perhaps not kinetically, yet, but the propagandistic narratives and indicators are in full swing.  From toxic masculinity, to rampant misinformation, to misleading distractions and dehumanizing rhetoric against several groups of people, and everything in between.  That is why I am writing so much about it.  We are losing sight of what is important, and that is convenient to those who want to divide us.

Meanwhile many prominent platforms seem to be more interested in chasing ratings rather than capturing what is truly important.  And that is understanding that our very futures are at risk as dark chapters in authoritarian history are repeating, while their core audience is asleep at the wheel.  HLC

 

As the media cycle moves fast, one important story gets buried.  Former U.S. President Trump is nowhere near as rich as he claimed to be, why should YOU care?

 

Who owns his debt?  Would they own the country?

Former U.S. President Donald J. Trump has always drawn a line when it came to people insinuating about his wealth.  Why?  Well, the answer is now very obvious, and it has been legally demonstrated – because he is not the billionaire he claims to be.  He is a wealthy man, but he is cash poor.  Not being exceedingly rich is not a bad thing, most people in the world are not billionaires, or even millionaires for that matter.  The problem is the lies.

So, what if Trump exaggerated about his wealth?  What’s the big deal?  Glad you asked, because it matters a lot.  For starters, if a person is shallow enough to pretend that they are richer than they are – it’s for mainly one of two reasons.  First, because they either want to get better rates for loans and services, and use their allure of these riches as leverage.  And that is fraud.

The other it is a lot sadder, because that means that they are in-fact lesser than THEY expected THEMSELVES to be – and instead of accepting the facts or moving towards that goal, they pretend they are richer than they are – perhaps to feel better about themselves, but the fact is that they will have to realize that their claims remain false, no matter how many people think these claims are true.  Pretending you’re rich does not make you truly rich – might increase your debt though.

So, two problems – both are very problematic sides to the same coin.  On the former because that means that they have likely used that leverage to do something that is illegal, and will have to forever watch their backs.  And the second is because it is an exploitable factor.  Especially if there is somebody with liquidity who would help them “maintain that façade” in exchange for favors and access.  It has been reported Trump experienced both of those instances, many times over.

We know now for a fact that Trump has made a lot of very shady deals.  He was civilly charged in New York for almost a half-a-billion dollars.  He has been unable to pay for these fines.  Or even find anybody who would actually lend him the money until he tries to appeal.  And this is after Trump was granted an unprecedented break to only pay a fraction of the fine – still, he has been unable to pay any of his bills.

Stiffing others it’s Trump’s Modus Operandi (MO)

If you’ve been alive since at least the 80’s, and unless you were stuck under a rock you would have heard of Trump’s countless hassles (airlines, steaks, water, games, etc.).  Many of which went under.  Generally, via bankruptcy.  I mean, for example his “savvy business man” went bankrupted not one but four times regarding his casinos in Atlantic City, NJ!

But he is also known for not paying his legal bills.  Want examples?  Sure Rudy Guiliani, and the entire entourage who was part of his upcoming criminal charge in Georgia for election interference were all hung out to try by Trump, owing millions in legal fees to support Trump’s claim of a rigged election.  Something that not one of the many trials has been able to prove at all – no one in more than 60.

Right now, every donation that goes to the GOP, as it has Trump’s daughter in Law Lara Trump in charge of the RNC, if you’re a donor – well it is first going to pay for Trump’s legal fees – then to whatever is it that your campaign donation is supposed to do.  And yes, donations have taken a plunge in the GOP, and Trump has also destroyed the Grand Old Party with a poignant civil war between so called MAGA Republicans and pretty much everybody else in the conservative universe.

Trump for years was hiding his taxes, and he was very controlling of any release of his finances – even directing his cabinet while being a sitting president to prevent this to be seen by the American people.  Why do you think that it is important?  Because we need to know if the leader of the free world, and the person in control of the nuclear codes does not have a loan shark from an adversarial nation.

Why?  Because if they do, then they are in fact governing our country via Trump’s wallet – rather than the leader of the free world working for the American people.  It should be common sense, but it needs to be spelled out.  Why?  Because right now, since nobody wants to lend trump money to pay his fines, this opens the door for foreign donors to buy influence on a presidential front runner.  And yes, that is bad – because then the country gets governed by a loan shark.  You don’t want that, do you?

Final thought, don’t get mad at me, rather keep digging for yourself and find out more context for what I’ve mentioned.  Trump’s team is working hard to hide this information from you.  The information that reaches your ears by his team is carefully selected, keep researching on your own.  You’ll thank me later.  HLC

 

The puppet master is the shadowy figure or entity that is actually controlling the entire debacle, even if this control is designed to be utter chaos.

 

The face tends to remain anonymous.

On my book Authoritarianism & Propaganda the Puppet Master Tools, I help you discover this Puppet Master.  And spoiler alert, it might be a bunch of puppet masters behind the scenes competing for power.  The catch is that most people will never really get to know who it is actually pulling the strings.  It is designed to be that way.

Every authoritarian in history has one thing in common, they are all insecure.  They disguise themselves as strong leaders.  If they are men, they will actually be wimps, and winers, and thin skinned pedantic loud creatures who far from being a “man version” – are really very insecure children trapped in a larger often loud-mouthed body.  These are perfect vehicles for the puppet masters to enact their agenda.  Why?

Let’s use for example a grown man who is a victim of toxic masculinity.  Anyone who thinks that being the loudest and foul-mouthed person is a sign of masculinity already lacks awareness to function as a person who enacts critical thinking and intellectual honesty.  In other words, it is very easy to portrait themselves as an aggressive asshole, or a fantastical macho-version.  In reality, it actually takes self-control to be able to maintain temperance.  You can call that maturity.  But maturity its inconvenient to a puppet master.

Authoritarians tend to lack that level of maturity – even if they are very calculating, and they gravitate towards others who follow suit.  Which it is an oxymoron, because they think they are in charge, yet they are perfectly okay to even pay money for someday to insult them – making them think that it is what makes a tough person.  Trust me, if your life is indeed complex and challenging, you don’t need to pay somebody to artificially induce more drama in your life.  If you do, then your life is already too shallow and meaningless.

That’s what the Puppet Master seeks.

The puppet master needs people who are shallow enough to be pretentious, loud, aggressive, obedient, and likely violent – but too dumb to realize they are actually puppets for somebody else.  The funny thing is that their ego will make it impossible for them to realize they are being manipulated.  And that it is also by design.

Whenever you see any movement in history where men and some women who were convinced that they were in charge under the clout of a dear leader, they will also be prompted to obediently follow directives that are incredibly disgusting and often criminal in nature.  However, since it was enacted “against another” group, they felt vindicated to perpetrate these crimes without thinking much about it, or the victims.

The problem is that we are seeing a rise on these toxic personalities who are actually very vulnerable, but in their minds, they think they are the strongest and most alpha type of vindicators, following a quest that it is bigger than themselves.  They are right it is bigger than themselves, because they are being manipulated.  And guess what?  They are disposable when they become inconvenient.

It is easy to fall for this trap, because sometimes these victims will act as though they have it all figure it out – and even persuade others to follow the same “lessons.”  But once you dig a bit – and I mean it won’t take long because they tend to be very shallow – you’ll realize that all the spewed bravado it is more of a mechanism of defense, because no matter how “good they are” – they never like themselves, because they are not being themselves, they are just being the version they think was acceptable.  The result is that they are always chasing that higher high.

What does that mean?  It means that if a person is shallow, it does not matter what they achieve it will never be enough.  Because they have never actually become the person they are meant to be, the puppet master’s mission is to prevent them from figuring out WHO they were actually meant to be, and keep them obedient to an agenda that it is not even on their best interest.  But perpetually convince them it very much is.  HLC

 

Popularity does not always equal skill or competence.  However, it can be quite exploitable when a particular brand loyalty can be highjacked to push an agenda.

 

The face of the movement is not always in charge.

On my book Authoritarianism & Propaganda the Puppet Master Tools I dedicate a sizable part to help people understand the mechanics of authoritarian propaganda.  Often the “dear leader” is not even the one in charge, though it would certainly have some level of influence over the masses.

Most authoritarians need to borrow an existing clout and then transform it into a group of obedient fools who will heed their every word.  What the useful fools fail to realize is that the words they actually hear are carefully redacted and chosen to gain their concurrence through faux outrage.  This is a tactic as old as civilization itself, and it works!

Throughout history we’ve seen countless examples of people who thought they could “control” an authoritarian wanna-be, and use their influence as a catalyst to push a specific agenda.  A classic example is when Benito Mussolini was invited to become the Prime Minister for Italy.  There was a lot of division among the citizens circa that timeframe, and the arrogance spewed by Mussolini seemed to be the answer to the less-acute minds in charge.  Well, the miscalculation ended in the creation of fascism.  We are still dealing with that aftermath.

When you’re paying attention to a politician, you also must pay attention to the hearts and minds of their followers.  Some of these followers will have exploited biases, which will cause them to perpetrate heinous crimes against humanity, while being convinced they are the morally superior crowd.

The goal post of what is acceptable, and what it is “now needed” will of course continue shifting.  Generally, it does not start with genocide from the get-go, but rather by adding a level of frustration that is largely fictitious, but might seem very real inside a political base echo chamber.

They want you to ultimately fight alone (don’t be a dummy!)

An authoritarian wants you to fight ultimately alone, especially after you’ve alienated anybody else who would be in your team.  That is why you will always hear the reality that an authoritarian only cares about himself or herself – everybody else is disposable.  That loyal base they enjoy, and who worships them is ultimately disposable.

This is nothing new, it has happened time and time again.  They will make their base believe they are part of a bigger team that is fighting “good against evil” – without realizing that they have already become the mirror version of whom they despise.  I’ve mentioned in a previous article, it starts with a bias – it gets exploited, and from there it is very easy to control the crowd.

That is by the way one of the reasons why those controversial “outliers” seem to get so much traction in gaining prominence.  There is marketability in controversy and demagoguery.  For example, if you watch a movie with a very vanilla plot and no conflict, then it will be a snore-fest.  But if you add some conflict, even if it is manufactured or too fantastical to be accurate, it will have a much higher chance of getting people to watch it.

Something similar happens to people when pushing an agenda – except that it will feel very real, as though they are the protagonist of their own movie or adventure.  If a crowd or political base has already demonstrated a proclivity for falling for a certain narrative, they will be pointed in that direction – and enhance the echo chamber – creating this faux reality they are now convinced it is the morally superior way of life.

In reality, they were only afforded a fraction of the “truth” – but it was poignant enough to make them believe they are the smartest people in the room.  They are not, they are being manipulated – and spoiler alert – we are all potential victims.  That is why I advocate for pairing critical thinking with intellectual honesty.  HLC

 

Insider threats can be witting or unwitting.  But they both aid the adversary into achieving their goals.  Today this is happening more often than people think.

 

Expanding on this topic.

On my previous article I mentioned that there is at least one elected leader who is repeating adversarial state-sponsored talking points verbatim.  Sadly, that person is not the only one, and adversarial talking points are being parroted by too many people who have a significant level of placement and access in higher offices.  And of course, this is music to the ears of those people leading nations who want to get rid of the United States of America as a premier world power.

What some people fail to realize is that they might have convinced themselves that they are actually working, or even sacrificing for their best interests, and the interests of their community.  However, in reality they are being manipulated in ways they cannot begin to comprehend.  And yes, it is designed to be cryptic enough for them to be confused.  That’s also why this level of mass manipulation tends to be so effective.

We all have biases; some are more controllable than others.  And based on the environmental circumstances, some of these biases might become invisible even to ourselves as we normalize certain traits – kind of like hiding in plain sight.  This can be subtle enough that it goes unnoticed for years, sometimes it will be a bit starker, and an epiphany might follow.

For example, group mentality in their environment could prevent people from breaking their bias shackles.  Instead, the desire to find the truth will be replaced with willful ignorance.  Of course, the correct answer would be to warrant pragmatic analysis.

Make no mistake, the world is a lot more complex and intricate than what you and I (or any of us for that matter) are combined.  And there are entities and people who are banking on the fact most people will feel so overwhelmed by even thinking about it that they will simply look away and let willful and blissful ignorance take the reins of their lives.  That too its designed to be that way.  There is no easier battle to win than the one the opponent forfeits.

But that is only one layer to the equation.  The adversarial forces realized that it is easier to defeat their perceived foe if they are divided.  And paradoxically, this division happens by “uniting” a core segment of those who will ultimately become divisive against everyone outside this “circle of trust.”  The “circle of trust” will become a “circle of obedience,” and any outsider will automatically be viewed as a dissident, and from there things only accelerate exponentially.

It all starts with a Bias.

Biases are highly exploitable, and we tend to look at “other people’s biases” – and point them out – but we tend to be very lousy at seeing those very same biases affecting us when the mirror is presented in front of us.  Why?  Well, because it can be traumatic, it forces a person to see the reality of what they don’t want, or are not “quite ready” to confront yet.

This of course is wonderful for the propagandists who want to move your perception of what is acceptable or unacceptable.  An insider threat can be witting, knowingly doing something bad.  But often it is easier to persuade a person to do something stupid if they are convinced that they are vindicated to do whatever it is that they are persuaded to do.  Even if this action is against others, or even their best interests.

People hate being pointed out that there is wrong, and that “egocentric” level of stubbornness can be extremely valuable to those who are manipulating us.  A narcissist is paradoxically a person with very low self-esteem.  And they can easily be manipulated if a bias – usually their own vanity gets stroked the right way.  A certain compliment, a certain flattering “observation” – or whatever behavior or observation that can otherwise serve as a mechanism of defense for their ego should they be put on the spot.  Those are incredibly powerful catalysts to move rhetoric into action.

How can this be achieved?  It depends on the person, but if a person has an exploitable bias, then their proclivity to follow a charlatan’s lead will not be a bridge too far.  In other words, if a person is already preempted to believe any sort of unfalsifiable narratives, doctrines, or even allegories – then by providing a fraction of plausibility for a more “defined” narrative it will be a lot easier to be accepted at face value.  Even if the definition of this narrative is conjecture at best.

Pair that with the collective understanding or belief system from everybody else involved, and this will be a very easy transaction for any entity who wants to exploit the bias a person exhibits.  The bias itself is almost irrelevant, it is more important for them to assess your willingness to accept something divorced from reality at face value.  That’s how this insider threat manipulation starts.  HLC

Today in America 03MAR2024 – Half Life Crisis www.halflifecrisis.com

 

There is so much occurring simultaneously in the national discourse that the truth tends to be muddied up.  Today I bring clarity to these many issues.

This article will be broken down into a few parts in order to segment some of the craziness.  It is going to be a bumpy ride, and although it will be a long article, this is the very top of the tip of the iceberg.  An open mind is advisable to read these passages, because it will shed some light on information that tends to be redacted in some news outlets and from the voices of many pundits & other influencers.

The good news is that I am truly independent, therefore I have no political motivation.  I am, however, very much against misinformation, because that affects us all – regardless of which side of the political spectrum we lean towards.  Enjoy the ride!

 

Trump is not “that” rich.

In case this is the first time you see it, Trump had to admit via his attorneys that he does not have the amount of cash he used brag to the entire world he had.  For many of us, realizing that Trump was nowhere as rich as he claimed to be it is not surprising.  It might however finally dissuade a lot of his loyal followers in the MAGA base to finally leave him.  The reason is because many MAGA followers just tolerated his antics because they thought he was a multi billionaire.

In case you were not aware, Trump recently lost two separate civil cases and was ordered to pay several million dollars in compensation.  Most of his supporters still think it is a “witch hunt” perpetrated by President Biden.  Of course that isn’t the case, and these problematic cases of sexual assault and fraud he was found liable in two separate courts, occurred well before the Biden Presidency or the Trump Presidency [for that matter] even started.  Here is a quick synopsis of these two cases.

Both of these cases were handled by his attorney Alina Habba, who has been touted by her peers [meaning other attorneys] as highly incompetent.  Whatever the case, she is to my knowledge the only attorney who has cost her client almost half a billion dollars.

 

Trump’s Civil Fraud Case.

Trump was fund liable from swindling many investors through the span of several years.  Trump was directed to pay $355 million in penalties plus interests.  But the total figure starts at $454 million because it also includes people in Trumps orbit, to include his two elder sons.  The interest for the payments Trump owes each passing day he does not pay is $87,502 – and by the way the verdict took place on February 16, 2024.  So, this figure just keeps climbing more and more.

This case of course found out that he was lying about his wealth and that he overinflated his assets to get loans, and undervalued them when it was time to pay taxes.  The fact is that if he is unable to have this interest rate from rapidly accruing, that on its own is enough to ascertain that he simply does not have the cash to pay, or even to appeal the case.  Trump said he was going to appeal, but he needs to post the money upfront to guarantee he will pay if he loses again.  Which will likely be the case.

The fact is that neither banks, nor attorneys are lining up to support Trump.  Trump also asked to pay only just north of $100 million [or a fraction of what it is required] to appeal.  That was denied to him as it would have been denied to anybody in a similar situation.  Trump went onto making some unusual fund-raising events, which included selling some hideous $400 golden shoes and a $100 cologne that by the way sold-out, but won’t be making it to their customers hands until the Summer.

Another thing that sprouted, even if by proxy, was at least one Go-fund me campaign, and people were contributing to pay the legal fees of this billionaire.  There seems also to be some course of action of utilizing GOP campaign funds for his legal troubles.  But my understanding is that would be highly illegal. Which by the way, there is another case under that premise – this time for paying hush money to a porn star.

Bottomline, Trump said via his attorneys that if he pays the entire amount [even as a bond], which is close to half a billion dollars penalty, he would have to start selling some of his real state.  So, let’s put that in perspective.  Trump was ordered to pay that amount because he was found that he defrauded a bunch of people.  You know, as in taking their money, and now he does not have the money.  In other words, it was spent – not properly invested to grow.  This realization might finally be what turns off some of his base who considered him a financial genius.

 

Trump sexual abuse case.

On May 9, 2003 Trump was found liable for sexually assaulting E. Jean Carroll in 1996.  Trump was directed to pay $5 million.  But this case is a lot more nuisance than Trump simply being found liable for sexual assault, which under the New York statutes it is just different language that in fact found Trump liable of raping Carroll.  Yes, they found and were able to provide proof that Trump is a rapist.

What some people might not realize about this case is that the statute of limitations has already expired, and although Carroll was unable to go against Trump back in the 90’s – remember, these were very different times.  We have come a long way to being able to speak truth to power.  For some of us who were alive in the 90’s I can assure you that the world has moved forward by leaps and bounds, yet there are many who want to return back to the most short-sighted blunders in those years.

However, as the story re-surfaced, Trump started bad mouthing Carroll and made some very defamatory remarks against her.  The case went to court, Trump kept making some very low brow and insulting remarks in true Trump fashion style against Carroll – many of these remarks from very prominent platforms.  You know, double down and triple down.  So, the case ended up going to court for defamation.  This of course backfired on Trump, because not only he was stuck with a $5 million award payable to Carrol, but he also got all his sexual abuse past come to light.  It did not end there.

As expected, Trump was not happy at all with this, therefore he double down, and disparaged Carroll again.  And this once again backfired.  Remember, the case was already settled that Trump raped Carroll.  Adding to the miscalculation, Trumps attorney, Alina Habba managed to make things a lot worse for Trump, turning this $5 million original award into a whopping $83.3 million award, as Carroll won her case for defamation again.  It is very likely that Trump was the master mind directing Habba to say whatever is it that she said in the trial.  Of course, that was not a good strategy.

One thing is clear, Trump has not paid a dime yet for either one of these millionaire awards against him.  Which makes you think, if he really was a billionaire, paying off and then appealing could be a lot easier than accruing all this additional debt in interests, not to mention all the negative media attention that it puts on his supposed fortune.  For now, only some of his most fervent MAGA supporters are still onboard and will pay their hard-earned money to help a billionaire pay his legal obligations.  Food for thought.

Credit the link below to the Associated Press (AP) who is tracking Trump’s many criminal and civil cases.  They have a huge team of journalists who can do that in real time; it is only me writing for the Half Life Crisis site at this time.

Tracking the criminal and civil cases against Donald Trump (apnews.com)

Hunter Biden handed GOP House Representatives their own butts.

In a different part of our bizarre political discourse, the GOP have been hell-bent in an unsuccessful effort to impeach President Biden.  Bottomline, they have zero evidence.  If the evidence to impeach Biden existed it would have been plastered all over the planet, and there would be non-stop coverage of it.  That has not happened, nor will it, because what the GOP members are alluding towards simply does not exist.

In an effort to find some compromising links to Joe Biden, the GOP has been very adamant on pursuing dead-end leads related to the President’s son, Hunter Biden.  For context, Hunter Biden is a recovering addict, and in the past, he had done some shenanigans, and has gotten in some trouble before.  However, he has always made a conscientious effort to keep his father out of the spotlight, because he understands how important this is to his father’s public service.

For context Hunter Biden was still a young boy when Biden was elected to his first term in Congress.  Fast forward, there have been a lot of allegations trying to tie Hunter Biden to his father.  One of those sources was a former FBI informant who also was recently arrested because he was working with Russian intelligence in a concerted effort to interfere in US politics.  And yes, that was the GOP’s star witness.

For some time, the GOP have been trying to corner Hunter Biden in many insidious ways.  Even having sexually explicit images of him shown in the House Floor by Georgia Representative Majorie Taylor Greene.  Yes, that happened!  She showed what could be best described as revenge porn showing nude photos of Hunter Biden engaging in sexual intercourse during an official hearing.

And to add insult to injury, the GOP controlled House of representatives wanted to have Hunter Biden testify in a closed-door session – even though they had made this matter public to the entire country as the story of the century.  Well, this was originally rejected, and Biden even showed up to Congress when they were deliberating about holding him in contempt of Congress – yet the GOP rejected the option of Hunger to testify in front of the whole country right there and there.  You know, calling their bluff.

Fast forward to last week, and Hunter Biden did show up to a closed-door session, and handed the House GOP butts to them.  The transcript is pretty long, but it is worth reading.  The GOP Representatives tried to spin it as though it was a win, but for anybody with a 4th grade reading comprehension, you would be able to identify what the reality of the situation is all about.  And the fact that it was political theater came full circle.

All this waste of taxpayer money and congressional man hours was nothing but a gigantic waste of time many of us realized years ago.  There is no actual evidence to impeach Biden.

I recommend reading the entire transcript on the link below.  It’s pretty long, but it is worth it.  It might make you mad, or laugh in a tragically hilarious manner.

Hunter Biden Full Transcript House of Representatives closed door session. www.halflifecrisis.com

 

Reproductive rights are being threatened in the country.

You’ve probably been familiar with the overturn of Roe vs Wade by the Supreme Court that occurred in 2022.  This is of course one of Trump’s supposedly proudest moments.  And yes, this was possible because the three Supreme Court Justices confirmed under Trump were very much in favor of overturning Roe vs Wade – even though they denied during their confirmation hearings to be inclined to do exactly that.

Just like many of us realized that they were going after Roe vs Wade making abortions illegal and a lot more restrictive depending on each state – the situation was not likely going to end there.  How do we know?  Because the indicators of moving a certain “theocratical” political agenda has been plastered on the wall all along.

There is a certain group of “Christian Nationalists” – which is not the same as Christians from all stripes.  In other words, not every Christian is a Christian Nationalist.  Many Christians actually disavow Christian Nationalists as extremists who happen to use Christianity as a platform to push a political agenda.  And Christian Nationalists are not shy about expressing that they want THEIR version of Christianity to be the rule of the land.  In other words, a theocracy based on their particular interpretation.  And yes, many of them are elected leaders.

For better or worse, this is actually a very unpopular stance – and in each and every one of the last several local, state, and national elections, the so called “pro-life” candidates have been defeated or severely underperformed at the ballot.  Why is that?  Because “Pro-Choice” does not equal “Pro-abortion.”  In other words, the majority of Americans understand the difference, and how each case is unique.  Further, they understand that the life and safety of the mother could be at severe risk with certain pregnancy complications.

And of course, most people are not onboard with forcing a woman to carry a pregnancy to full term, if the pregnancy was a result of rape or incest.  Especially considering that some young women get raped while they are still children themselves.  For example, should a 13-year-old be forced to carry to term the child of her rapist?  When Roe vs Wade was overturned, it now makes it illegal for this 13-year-old not be forced to carry a rapist child to term.  Think about that for a second – what if that 13-year-old young lady was YOUR child?

The fact is that what we are observing is authoritarian rhetoric disguised as morality under theocratic rules.  This situation is running rampant in America, and it has been largely normalized.  Why?  Because there are Christians all over the place, even though many fail to realize that their denomination is one of a few thousands in the world.  Yes, there are several Christian denominations, and they don’t agree in a lot of their doctrines – hence they have their own denomination.

Although many Christian denominations agree on certain points, there is a lot more than they disagree with.  Want an example?  Sure, how similar are the doctrines between the Jehovah Witnesses and the Latter-Day Saints?  How similar or different are the rituals between Catholics and Pentecostals?  How about the guys who handle dangerous snakes during service, or those who worship in the nude?

Yes, those are all just a few examples of devoted Christians.  Would you go to the nude service or the venomous snake-handling service?  So, under that logic, then you might not be ok if “a particular” denomination of Christianity becomes the theocratic rule of the land.  That is why there is separation of church and state I the USA.  Also, why churches get a tax exemption as long as they stay off the political discourse.  Although we all know that many churches are not only violating that law, but they are also very cavalier about pushing politics from the pulpit.

Some states have a higher concentration of politically charged religious following.  One of these places is Alabama, where recently, In-Vitro Fertilization or IVF is under attack, because they’re considering the cells in a petri dish being already a person.  Yes, this IVF has JUST become an issue – just a few days ago.  And it is taking traction on other states – mostly red states.  And if you think this is not expanding think again.

And by the way, there are many Christians who used IVF in order to become parents.  Now, this IVF procedure is in jeopardy because some people interpret their scriptures differently, and want to force everybody to interpret them in the same manner.  And yes, it is affecting also law-abiding Christians and non-Christians.

If you are a Christian – especially, if you’re a Christian, you might want to realize that there is a particular denomination which wants to take over the way YOU worship.  Yes, I am serious.  This is happening.  If you want to call them false prophets, or swindlers or opportunists, that’s YOUR choice.  And keep in mind that there is a segment of people who use religion as a way to prevent you from having ANY choice in the near turn.

For example, did you know that there is a bill being proposed in Virginia right now that is endorsed mostly by state-GOP legislators who want to make it a lot harder to get contraception over the counter?  So, think about this for a moment, there are people hell bent in not only limiting your options should a person get an unwanted pregnancy, but they are also making it harder to not get pregnant in the first place!

In other words, they are somehow working towards legislating about sexual intercourse between consenting adults.  I wish I was being hyperbolic, but just like Roe vs Wade and other indicators of theocracy working to replace our democratic system, this very much seems to be in the horizon.  Of course, that most people might not want to see it as such, because when we talk about religion it tends to hit a nerve on a great segment of the population… because they think it is singling THEM out.

Well, that is not the case, the reality is that a few are trying to impose their version of religion onto all of us while using the very same religious protections to hide their agenda, which is to ultimately negate religious freedom to the rest of the country.

There is a lot more to explore on this topic, and I plan on writing a full article and perhaps other additional content on this, because it will become a lot more significant sooner than later.  And if you think there are not people in high positions pushing for this to become the norm, think again.

 

The Supreme Court is perceived as MAGA-biased.

Lately the United States Supreme Court has been perceived as biased by a very large segment of Americans.  The reality is that there is an evident power dynamic difference.  If you have been paying attention, you’ll know that the great majority of the justices are very conservative.  And as I mentioned, three of them were recently confirmed during Trump’s term.

This is a good time to bring current Minority Senate Leader, Mitch McConnell who was the de-facto catalyst to pack the court with highly conservative, and MAGA friendly justices.  And McConnel is also the person responsible for denying President Obama from adding his nominated Justice to the Supreme Court, because that was during Obama’s last year in office.  Yet, McConnel pushed a conservative judge in the last year of Trump’s office.

For any of us paying attention, we realized this tactic from the start.  He was going to pack the courts, not just the supreme court but a lot of other courts in the country – to get a higher level of political advantage with like-minded people.  Some might say that is an unfair assertion, yet the proof to this assessment has come through via many cases that have gravitated towards conservative goals.  IVF is one such case.  There are plenty more, but not many of those cases make it to the national headlines.

But the scrutiny of the conservative Justices has also gathered more momentum after their decision to hear the case for Trump’s eligibility to be in the Colorado ballot.  This of course will put a delay on a resolution for other cases that are related to why the State of Colorado supreme court found that Trump’s election interference and role for the January 6 insurrection makes him ineligible to run for office.

And if you think for a few seconds about this concern to have Trump back in office, it makes perfect sense.  Trump has 91 criminal charges spanning several court cases, has been very vocal about some very divisive rhetoric, he was found to be a fraud and a rapist – and that is just a fraction of the many red flags anybody who is paying attention sees about Trump.  Hence, most Americans voted against him in 2020.  The difference is that he has alienated a lot of his base from that time.  And a lot of his supporters have not been afforded the full story either… so they might jump ship once the truth also reaches their eyes and ears.

Well, unsurprisingly the Justices who were appointed by Trump and other conservative justices are very much onboard with seeing Trump to run for another term, despite the myriad of criminal and civil cases against him.  And this is not me – as the author of this article – trying to put the integrity of the US Supreme Court in question – as far as how objective they are when it comes to political discourse.  This is the common consensus from many people reporting on this topic.

But what I will say is that the rulings and the precedent for each case do raise a lot of questions.  And one of the fears most people have is that there is a clear bias towards one segment of the population and a disenfranchisement of another – an even larger segment of the same population.  The proof is that the most “conservative” doctrines have not been popular at the ballot.  It is especially noteworthy that the MAGA segment of the Republican party is dwindling.  Even though, many remaining MAGAs are still very vocal.

I linked this article to tell you more about the particular case regarding Trump’s eligibility to hold office. Credit to the New York Times.  Even if you don’t agree with them, fact check them with media sources from all political sides – you’ll see the pattern soon enough.

Supreme Court Poised to Rule on Monday on Trump’s Eligibility to Hold Office – The New York Times (nytimes.com)

Conflicts continue to ramp up, and they are likely related.

And with the political discourse, we also have to realize that we have a very real linkage to the larger geopolitical stance of the United States on the world stage.  What we have to remember is that what happens in the USA resonates with the rest of the world with ripple effects that are mind-bending to some, and very clearly evident to others who can see the links to these events from a different vantage point.

What does that mean?  It means that even the situations who seen tangentially related at best, or totally unrelated are very much part of the same construct.  They are just not as evident when seeing it from a particular vantage point.  And that would not be a person’s fault, they are just not afforded that vantage point to see the big picture.

For an illustrative example let’s say you’re in a valley, and you are at the bottom of the valley inside a forest.  You might not be able to see the mountains around you, or even what is just a few yards from your vantage point.  But if you climb the mountain, you’ll have a much larger view of the valley and where everting seems to be located.  From there, you will be able to further explore with ease each area because you will have a better idea of how the terrain is laid out.

In geopolitics it is very much the same.  For people who are in their own echo chambers, or political bubbles – they will not be able to see how the events are laid out and how they relate to one another.  The way you can ascend this illustrative mountain is by understanding context.  This context raises your awareness of what is going on, and from there you can see the road leading to each event.  Keep in mind that each stage is going to have an inherited level of complexity, and it is meant to discourage people from keeping on climbing.

When I wrote my book AUTHORITARIANISM & PROPAGANDA The Puppet Master Tools, I provided some tools on how to see this context in ways that will help you climb to a better vantage point.  The geopolitical realm is complex, and it is also very contentious.  And the end result of many adversarial nations is to negate the USA from remaining the premiere nation in the world – and give an open avenue for adversarial regimes to take the USA’s place.  This has been happening for a while, and they will succeed unless we realize what its going on under our own noses.

I’ve said it before and it is worth repeating.  There are insider threats integrated within the confines of the United States of America, and in many countries that are allied or partnered with the USA.  Insider threats come in two big categories:

1. Witting Insider Threats:

These are people who are performing actions and supporting adversarial narratives and carrying out their desires willingly.  In other words, they are very cognizant that what they are doing goes against the USA and its influence in the world.  Even if they disguise themselves as patriotic.

2. Unwitting insider Threat

These are people who are too stupid to realize they are doing everything the witting insider threat is also doing, but they are just not aware they are complicit.  This latter one is a lot more dangerous than the first one, because they are easily manipulated.

And it is worth repeating that there are a lot of people in Capitol Hill and in other prominent platforms who are repeating and parroting those adversarial talking points verbatim!  I will be dedicating specific content to identifying how this works and how to defend against it.  Remember that these insider threats tend to be wolves in sheep’s clothing.  They will seem patriotic and even probably drape themselves in the regalia that screams USA – but they are repeating the points from their adversaries.

An easy way to see if that is the case is by looking at state-sponsored propaganda and news from an adversarial nation.  How do you know it might be an adversarial nation?  Well, if it is solely run by the state, then that means that the freedom of press is non-existent, and all narratives must concur with the government or be silenced.  So that is already a good pointer, because the USA has freedom of speech [at least for now], and you’re able to speak your mind without the government coming to violently retaliate against you and everything you’ve ever loved.

We still have this freedom we are very much taking for granted and there are a lot of nations who have recently lost it.  They didn’t pay attention to the same indicators I am mentioning, and it was likely there was somebody just like me trying to raise awareness, and he or she ended up screaming into a void.  I’m trying to change that trend, and fortunately there are many who see what I am seeing – we are just not communicating together effectively.  That is what I want to change through my writing.  HLC

 

Three years ago, today Capitol Hill was assaulted by thousands of MAGA supporters.  Because of that I started my series “Today in America.”  Let’s talk about it.

Three years later, the “big lie” continues.

I remember it like it was yesterday.  The horrific images of a mob assaulting Capitol Hill, fighting Capitol Police, smashing the windows, the gallows along people chanting “hang Mike Pence” – who was Trump’s Vice President at the time. These images were broadcasted live on TV around the world, as they were also live streamed by many insurrectionists themselves.

As the events were unfolding, I was writing my first “Today in America” article as a chronicle of what I was witnessing in real time.  I invite you to read the article at the following link if you haven’t seen it yet – before you continue with the current article.  If you decide to read it later, that is fine also – but by reading it, it will give you more context as I update about what has been going on in these last three years in connection to that dark day in American History.

https://www.halflifecrisis.com/2021/01/today-in-america-06-jan-2021/

As I was reading back my words from that day – my sentiment has not changed at all.  I was just as disappointed that day as I am today.  In fact, perhaps I am even more disappointed today because there is a copious number of voters who: a) have no idea about what happened that day, and b) they know what happened, and think it is very much justified.

And that either one of those is not good news at all for our country.  But it is very convenient to other regimes who do not want America to remain the number one nation on the world-stage.

The denial of the 2020 presidential election is commonly referred by the “Big Lie” – and that is likely the way it will be designated as in future history books.  The 2020 election was not “stolen” and it was not “rigged” as Trump and his supporters would assert.  And they have tried it in numerous ways to set forth that narrative.  In every legal case the claims about the 2020 election from being stolen, and legitimizing Trump as the winner has failed.  That includes cases were Trump-appointed judges around the country ruled against him.

Did Trump get the most votes of any sitting US President ever?  Yes, he did.  But there were millions more voters who voted him out of office.  And that includes copious amounts of Republican voters.  Despite all the legal cases, lawsuits, investigations, recounts, etc.  Trump was never able to proof election fraud to be the cause for his defeat.  However, there have been thousands of cases combined against him and his followers in connection to try to change the outcome of the 2020 election.

At some point, no matter how fervently we like a person (like Trump fans), the numbers are simply not on their favor.  And think about this for a moment.  Many MAGA Republicans (please note that not all MAGA are fully convinced of this lie, and not all Republicans are MAGA) were perfectly ok about not contesting electoral fraud on elections they won.  But they were very much calling foul for elections and they were defeated.  Conversely, all blue-contenders who were defeated in that election conceded.  Keep this in mind as we continue this dialog.

The critical question we should arrive to is: “Who has the most to lose if Trump was not to be elected?”  The country “survived” and even thrived under the Biden administration – regardless of whether you like the guy or not.  It has even been good for business.  It is not perfect – there is plenty left to do.  But I for one am very happy not having to wake up to a twitter storm.  And yes “mean tweets” against targeted private citizens is not acceptable coming from the highest office on the planet.

So, the question remains.  Who had the most to lose if Trump lost the 2020 election?  Well, that is actually an easy answer.  Trump himself.  And he knew it.  There were plenty of legal cases pending against him before he was to leave office.  Many of those cases were not prosecuted while he was a sitting president (such as the findings on the Mueller report) because that was a guideline set forth by the federal government.  By the way, he was found guilty under the Mueller report – he was not convicted because of the guideline I mentioned, and the at-the-time Republican controlled House and Senate saved Trump from being kicked out of office.

After the House of Representatives flipped in favor of the Democrats, Trump was impeached – twice for two additional high crimes and misdemeanors; and saved by the at-the-time Republican controlled Senate – twice!

 

No stranger to controversy.

For many people who had been paying attention objectively, the Trump Presidency was bizarre at best, and extremely polemic at worst.  And by polemic, I mean that there was never a day were a career-ending scandal did not dominate the headlines.  It became so common place that people got oversaturated with negative information about Trump.  Trump and his acolytes also used this as a catalyst to excite his base – the higher the polemic, the more he would double or triple down.  This perceived “martyrdom” is a very powerful tool to exploit certain biases.

But objectively, if Biden or anybody else for that matter would have done 1/1,000,000th of what Trump was getting away with – the entire right-wing media ecosystem that favors Trump would have called Biden (or any other dissenter) out on that.  But for the court of public opinion, redacting particular stories is simply the status quo nowadays.  Many people don’t tune in to watch something that disagrees with their world-view.  The loyal eyeballs are more interested in getting more of what they come to accept as true – regardless of if it is factual or not.

And this is why it is important to understand the MAGA mentality at this point in history.  Trump is NOT who is leading the MAGA movement, contrary to what many would think.  There are a lot of other interested parties who are using Trump as the figure head who will spout all kinds of things that excites the base.  THAT base, THAT is what they are after.  The MAGA Republicans are divided in two main segments.  And from those there are a lot more subtleties.  But that would take me days to go through.  So, this is a good starting point.  Let’s explore:

 

JAN 6 2021 gallows capitol hill

 

Types of MAGA Republicans:

If you have read my articles for a while, then you have likely seen that I am not a fan of treating anybody with disrespect.  That includes MAGA Republicans.  I’ve met a bunch of them, and they do have their heart in the right place.  We can disagree on policy, but we can generally agree on what is good for the country.  Others are just very unsavory people, and have more of a “debate me bro” attitude than actually trying to find a solution that is good for the country.

What they have in common is that for some reason they find Trump appealing.  With that context let’s delve into what we are seeing here.  This is my own analysis, and I illustrate it in a manner that is intended to make better sense to the reader.

MAGA Type 1 – Honest to goodness Patriotic good people who actually want the best for the country.

We all have biases.  It is part of being human.  However, if those biases are exploited, then somebody can take advantage of our otherwise good intentions.  If that ever happens to you, don’t feel bad – it is designed to be that way.  And those perpetrators are very good at what they do.  And what they do is turn good values into a narrative that is actually self-destructive.

Before I continue, let me emphasize that this variety of MAGA is less likely to remain loyal to Trump.  Why?  Because at some point they realize that some of the narratives sent their way are not as accurate as they were led to believe.  In other words, they feel betrayed and their devotion turns on its head and suddenly they become very vocal dissenters from Trump.  What causes them to turn against Trump?  Depends on the person.  But the common denominator is that they will be as vocal against MAGA as they were vocal in support of MAGA once they decided they are out of that club.

Being MAGA does not mean that a person is unintelligent, but they do have a proclivity to choose one side a lot more fervently.  For example, very unlikely you will see a person being draped head to toe with Biden merch.  Sure, you might see a few, but never at the scale and scope as you see MAGA regalia all over the place.  And that MAGA merch tends to be expensive.

I have to emphasize that many ex-MAGA started their journey out of that movement once they stopped listening to what Trump or his acolytes were saying – and pragmatically started “challenging” what the non-MAGAS (including other Republicans) were advising.  Which as simply “hey, there is a lot of official information posted in the public domain, read it and find out what they are saying.”

Many who (albeit reluctantly) actually read through the paperwork realized the obvious.  A lot of important details were [perhaps] conveniently left off on any of their outlets or choices.  Being TV, pundits, influencers, podcasters, whatever.  And as they attempted to refute that information objectively, they realized that there was so much more data that was contradicting a lot of the narratives fed to them for years.

This is not an easy process for anybody to accept.  Actually, it can be very traumatic.  That is why whenever a person “hits a nerve” on during a conversation with a MAGA republican, they tend to more from the defensive into the offensive very quickly.  Often using name calling, condescending epithets (such as cupcake, honey, sweetie, etc.), and suddenly shift towards a non sequitur to state “what about this or the other” – often unrelated to the topic at hand – and coincidentally, a repetition of a buzz phrase that they were fed before as an argument point.

However, when those arguments cannot be held to scrutiny, this will be very traumatic to them.  It is meant and designed to be that way when the information was implanted on their minds in the first place.  People hate to be told they are wrong, and will immediately gravitate towards their echo-chamber to regain that “sanity check” they desperately need as part of a confirmation bias, they might not see it as such, but that is exactly what is happening.  “Somebody said something I agree with, I’ll use this as a narrative counterpoint” – I’ve seen it thousands of times.

I’m not intending to change their minds, but when the conversations happen in a public forum such as social media – other people do pay attention to the narrative, and they can see by proxy how valid or flawed an argument really is.  Most people will just look, but rather not comment, or even react with a heart, or like or whatever.  But the crux of the argument resonates with them.  Even if it takes a while for the argument to settle in their minds.  Especially if this argument is now rocking their world.  People need time to process.

This segment of MAGA has and will likely flip against Trump if they are afforded the opportunity to make decisions based on the merits, and not just limited to the strategically cherrypicked talking points deemed convenient by those in the second group as described below.

MAGA Type 2 – Opportunistic people who are actively pushing a nefarious agenda that is actually eroding the country from the inside out.

Some of those who belong to this group do so wittingly, others unwittingly.  I would argue that the second group is more dangerous, because they have convinced themselves that any dissenting option should be discarded outright, regardless of factual merits.  These become the perfect vehicle to become the muscle and loyal soldiers to run with a narrative.  What they have not realized (yet) is that this devotion is indeed disposable.

The witting group definitely know that what they are doing or advocating for can be clearly divorced from the truth and in many cases illegal.  There is a reason why Trump has 90+ criminal charges against him.  And no, it is not because of the mean tweets.  Although that type of sophomoric behavior is also well below the prestige of the Office of the Presidency of the United Sates of America.

Surprisingly or unsurprisingly to some, Trump himself is likely not part of the higher echelons of his own MAGA movement.  Some people would say that is nonsensical – but as I mentioned before, Trump is the figure head – but strategy is not his strong suit, but he is surrounded by people who can directly or indirectly take a full advantage of his clout.  Despite what anybody might have perceived in the MAGA universe, Trump is not a one-man show.  There is a gigantic team who help him drive the MAGA narrative.  Trump himself is disposable.

What Trump was able to forge is a movement that is way bigger than him.  For better or worse, it has not been without controversy.  Why do you think that is?  Well, if all the indictments, the impeachments, and the many controversies tell you something – it is obvious that he is not going to play by the rules (to include the rule of law).  And that is [sadly] very enticing for a big segment of his base.

People on this group might end up being disloyal to Trump at some point – but they will be very loyal to the ideology behind MAGA.  Trump himself has set that standard.  He had disavowed hundreds of supporters whenever they became inconvenient.  We have seen that on live television, on his “mean tweets” and many other platforms – such as the rallies.

Do you think he is able to orchestrate all those events by himself?  Obviously not, he has teams to put that together.  So, there is a vested interest in getting MAGA as a strong brand.  There is plenty of money to be made for each and every one of those appearances.  And the crazy amounts of merch are only a small fraction of everything else.

Just do yourself a favor.  Google “MAGA Merch” and see how much all that cost.  Then do a “Biden Merch” – and you will see plenty of MAGA merch being disparaging to Biden.  Who do you think buys all that stuff?  Obviously, a Biden supporter is not going to spend the 40 bucks on a sweatshirt that is depicting him in a disparaging manner.  Also, by the way – a lot of that merch is actually made overseas.  Even though some might have a “Made in USA” label.

I’ve never attended his rallies, but from people who attended – I’ve been told they are not free.  And can range somewhere around $50 to $4,000 depending on what access you can afford to get.  Add these costs, and it gets to be pretty penny to support him.  If you attended a Trump rally, can you confirm this?

Perhaps some people think, how is it all relevant to January 6, 2021?  Well, it is very much related because what I’ve described is the context that helped bring rhetoric into action.  And despite what many would say to the contrary, January 6, 2021 was the date that marked an extremely violent insurrection.  Some would call it a “guided tour” – and I realize it is very hard to listen to that type of narrative without wanting to understand how much misinformation and spin was needed in order to help them reach that [extremely erroneous] conclusion.

 

Bringing it full circle to January 6, 2021.

As much as it pains me to say this, January 6, 2021 was a day of insurrection against the United States of America.  And it pains me, because it did get worse after that, despite all the accountability that was embarked via law enforcement and other legal resources to bring those who desecrated Capitol, and committed acts of violence to justice.

Over 730 people pleaded guilty, with about 170 convicted, and two acquitted (the latter only by a judge, but not by jury trial) in connection with the January 6 insurrection.  That alone negates the “guided tour” narrative some have floated around.  Trump himself is facing criminal charges due to his involvement in January 6, and of course is the reason why he got impeached for the second time – just days before he was supposed to leave office.  Ever since, a lot of his allies have turned their backs on him.  Afterall, for the first time ever in our lifetimes, we did not have a peaceful transfer of power in America.

But Trump did not act alone, he had huge teams working towards this particular goal – months in advance.  For anybody paying attention, during his rallies, tweets, and other events, Trump would assert that the 2020 election was going to be rigged.  Of course, there was no proof of that, but he did say that he would only accept the results if he was declared the winner.

Then it makes perfect sense why before the assault to Capitol he hosted the “Stop the Steal” rally in Washington DC.  What do you think a name like that would prompt into attendees who travelled from all corners of the United States to see him speak?

Trump finally addressed the crowd at noon, but before that time his loyal supporters were listening to a bunch of speakers who were revving their discontent – and validating “the importance” that brought them to the capital that day – after traveling from all corners of the United States – largely at their own expense.  Yet there were some Trump campaign donors, and even Alex Jones pledged $50,000 to the cause.  But it is obvious that 50 grand is not near enough to make a dent on the gigantic amount of resources January 6 took collectively.

Some quick math considerations: -Lodging in D.C. (generally three figures a night) -Transportation to DC either driving or getting there (flights, caravan, whatever).  Parking is not free most everywhere in D.C. -Transportation Inside D.C. from wherever their hotel or lodging was arranged -All the Trump regalia they draped themselves with (flags, shirts, hats, hoodies, etc.) -Meals -Time Off from work (vacation time / sick days / etc.) -Childcare (back home) for whomever that is commuting from out of area.  And even if they brought their kids – they still need a place to stay while they attended the event.

I can go on, but hope this makes the point.  So, even thinking about the logistical nightmare that would be for loyal Trump MAGA supporters – imagine what it would be if those storming the capitol were “posing as MAGA” as some conspiracy theorist seem to assert.  I can tell you that it is hard enough for Democrats to go out and vote, unless they feel it is very-very important to do so.  They would not go out of their way to invest all that time in effort just to discredit Trump.

You can see more about the timeline of events for January 6, 2021 at the following link.  Credit to NPR for that report.

A timeline of the Jan. 6 Capitol attack — including when and how Trump responded : NPR

 

But again, bringing this full circle.  Democrats and many other Republicans simply did not want to give Trump another chance to sit in the Oval Office.  The country was not better off when he was President – it might have seen like it was from the outside in like it was good, but working for the U.S. Government when he was in Office, I can tell you that we had to do a lot of damage control every time he would go on a Twitter rampage. Although the current administration has plenty of room for improvement, at least I am not worried about what the next scandal will be.

And about scandals – there were so many under Trump, that even before we got a chance to process one, the next two were already making headlines.  I’ve mentioned it before, and it is worth repeating.  This creates a media oversaturation that hides in plain sight important indicators to a larger issue.  Some of us who like to pay attention to that, then can identify when these “hidden issues” percolate and appear.  That is one reason why I am not surprised about the geopolitical events that occur.  That includes our domestic policy.

Fast forward three years, and Trump has won absolutely zero cases regarding his narrative of the election been stolen.  60+ cases spearheaded by Rudy Guiliani as his former lawyer.  Guiliani not only lost every case – he had to file for bankruptcy due to a lost case for defamation.  And to add insult to injury Trump never paid Guiliani for all his legal services on Trump’s behalf.  Also, his legal team flipped on Trump, and will be witnesses against him in criminal court in the next few months.

Fox News had to pay a 787 million dollars settlement for reporting that the election was stolen, and blaming Dominion for this alleged irregularity.  Whenever Fox News had to prove in court that what they were reporting was factual.  They could not, because it was not true.  Other far right news outlets were also required to fact-check themselves on air in order to avoid the lawsuit.  Why did they concede to Dominion if they (these far-right news outlets) had actual proof?

The answer is obvious, there was no proof that the election was stolen.  It has been recounted a bunch of times, and researched to exhaustion.  The only thing proven was that this was in fact the most secure election thus far.  And that would actually give credit to Trump, because was technically under his watch.  Therefore, talking about the election been rigged is actually a hit on his own record, because that would mean he did not do his due diligence to have a secure election.  In other words, he is searching for a lose-lose solution.  But fortunately, the facts are what they are.  This was a fair election – and Biden defeated Trump.

It is worth repeating what I said three years ago.  Republicans are perfectly fine showing up to rallies and buying tons of merch.  Democrats generally do not do that type of stuff.  They will show support by reading what’s available and showing up to vote in any convenient way available to them.  Sometimes it’s in person – but during the pandemic the mail-in-ballot option was a lot more attractive to them.  Hence, they voted in troves by mail.  Trump could have taken advantage of mail-in-ballots, but he preferred to ask his followers to go out and vote in person.  And that is exactly what they did.

They showed up to the polls in person – at least the ones who were not either dead or sick with COVID during election day.  The Biden campaign probably already realized that advertising on any right-wing outlet – especially those MAGA consume was just going to be a waste of money.  So instead, they advertised in outlets that would target democrats and undecided voters.  It worked, the popular vote for Biden superseded Trump’s tally by more than seven million votes.

However, these optics make it counterintuitive for a lot of right-wing voters to ascertain that Biden had a following.  Because obviously he did not appear on their television screens.  Why should he?  Was he going to be able to change any MAGA Republican Minds to vote for him in 2020?  There was a better chance for a cargo ship to navigate on top of a bunch body-builder squirrels marching in unison on a residential street than for a Trump voter to vote for Biden.  Hence, Biden chose places where he would be better received.  It is a commonsensical strategy when you think about it.

Trump has never won the popular vote, but was able to win the Electoral College in 2016.  Democrats learned their lesson, because they were losing seats in the previous elections.  And many could [rightfully] argue those were self-inflicted wounds.  In either case MAGA Republicans endorsed by Trump did not perform very well in the polls in subsequent elections.  That is of course a harsh reality many MAGA Republicans would prefer was not true.  Sure, that is normal, nobody likes to be defeated.  And as I said earlier, some of them really thought the country was going to be destroyed – yet, here we are – there have been some records of how well it has been going – although there is plenty of room for improvement.

For many people in the United States of America, sadly today is not a very significant date for them.  For some of us who are paying attention to what is going on (sometimes on their behalf), we’ve realized already what many who got turned off by Trump eventually realized.  The difference is that we did not have to either go behind bars, or lose a lot of time and money to become aware of it.

 

Food for thought, and cult of personality advisory.

This applies to Trump followers, but it could very well apply to any person to whom we develop a cult of personality.  Trump can be charming and even funny to some.  He might sound like he is “authentic” and even caring about others.  But is he though?  The same can be said about any person with whom you had a relationship of any kind that enjoyed your attention and devotion.

There is no shortage of people who have disavowed Trump, and I’m not talking about “Liberals” or “Progressives” or “Never-Trumpers” – I’m talking about hard-core MAGA Republicans.  If you are a MAGA Republican reading my words right now, YOU might not be feeling that way towards Trump right NOW (and maybe even resent me for the time being).  But it could very well be sooner or later that you will change your mind about him.  Why?

Let’s do a quick parallel example to illustrate.  Remember a time whenever you were hanging out with a person who had a lot of baggage and your loved ones were warning you against hanging out with this person?  What happen in the end if this person was indeed full of crazy baggage?  Hopefully you realized what your loved ones warned you about time and time again.  Yet, if you are a living-breathing human being, there is a non-zero chance you blew off all your loved ones and decided to hang out with this person who was clearly not good for you.  It could have taken days, months, even years sometimes.  But eventually, you got to see for yourself what everyone warned you about.

At some point, the indicators are just too many to ignore.  No matter how much you truly adore and admire a person – the facts are what they are regardless of their love and devotion to them.  For an extreme example, if your child goes and murders somebody in cold blood – you might still love your child, but you will have to come to terms with the fact that your child did something that cannot be condoned, no matter how much you want to justify it.

To a much larger extent, because blood has been shed by people who want to protect Trump’s rhetoric – yes, there are people with proclivity to violence who are just waiting for marching orders.  That should be very disturbing to any person.  The only group who wins if we descend into a civil war are adversarial regimes who want to defeat America.

Sure, that there is a lot of emotional baggage every time indictments, lawsuits, impeachment inquiries, criticism, and so much more is being directed at Trump.  But that is not YOUR baggage, that is Trump’s baggage.  Bluntly put, it is cause and effect.  The difference is that it is put in black and white, and he is getting a level of accountability that did not occur in the entire time of his Presidency.  Fast forward to today, and there is a huge number of people who understand the dangers of putting him back in the office.  And I am not talking about Democrats saying this – this is coming from Republicans.

There is no shortage of Republicans who have a lot of following all over social media disavowing Trump, and encouraging others to do exactly that.  In fact, there are some who are even rooting for Biden on this election, because they feel that is the best course of action at this point in our history, and for our country.  You’re welcome to agree or disagree with them about this.  But the question should be “why are they going through such lengths?” If [on first impression] handing the steering wheel to the Democrats is not “on their best interest.”

Well, this is the truth, party loyalty is not everything.  The best interests of the country are nonpartisan.  Sadly, there is a very real threat of a non-insignificant number of MAGA Republicans who have a proclivity for violence.  Most of the countries prefer not to give power to those few people who could do great amounts of damage to the rest of the country should they get unlimited power.

January 6, 2024 is a wakeup call that has been snoozed for three years.  It is a call for people to understand what is truly affecting our political discourse, and if whomever is enjoying our loyalty, devotion and affection is the right fit for ALL Americans.  Some might think that only “certain” Americans are to be in a privileged position – then that is not America – America is a land of equal opportunity and accountability for everybody based on their merits and their character.

I will finish by saying that the rhetoric of a 2024 stolen election by the Democrats is already floating around in the national discourse – mainly promulgated by Trump himself.  Much like he did for 2020.  That is propaganda, it is not true.  The voters will decide in the end if Trump is given a second chance.  That is if he can pass the Supreme Court case that is reviewing the Colorado decision to get him off the ballot.  The case is going to be heard in the near future.  And yes, Trump was removed from the Ballots in those states because of the January 6, 2021 insurrection.

I don’t want to think too hard on what the future will hold, but what I can tell you is that nothing that is happening has surprised me.  I have my suspicion of what the US Supreme Court will rule – We’ll see if I am still right.  My hunch is that it will be voted by party lines letting Trump stay in the ballot, thanks to the Conservative SCOTUS majority.  If that is not the case, I would be very surprised.  But if he is disqualified, I can only begin to imagine how divisive the next several months will be.  HLC

Get your copy of “AUTHORITARIANISM & PROPAGANDA The Puppet Master Tools”

 

Before everybody started talking about authoritarian propaganda, I’ve already completed my manuscript and it was in the process of making it available to the world.

 

This is the link where you can get my book.  Further down its the video where I get to speak directly about my debut book.
“AUTHORITARIANISM & PROPAGANDA | The Puppet Master Tools”

 

I also want to take this moment to thank you all for being beside me as I embark in this journey.  Every journey starts with one step, and these first steps you are joining me are something I do not take for granted.  Thank you!  I’ve been asked a few times to describe what this book is all about, and why I decided to write this book it in the first place.

Short answers:

What is the book about? 

The book’s premise is about how Authoritarianism and Propaganda spreads via loyal followers – and it is spreading like wildfire as we speak.  The “loyal followers” authoritarians gather might or might not be intrinsically “good people” – yet most good people who join the authoritarians tend to make nefarious decisions based on flawed metrics set forth by a propagandist or an authoritarian.  Thus, making it counterintuitive by those [otherwise good people] who are in the wrong to realize that they are parroting propaganda and authoritarianism points.  The book is intended to foster Critical Thinking paired with Intellectual Honesty.

Why I wrote it?
Because history is repeating itself, and there is no shortage of authoritarians percolating all over the world (and no, you don’t have too far away to find some examples).  An authoritarian is only as powerful as his or her followers.  The key to prevent this nefarious reality starts with personal introspection, thus mitigating and “authoritarian wanna-be” from galvanizing their power.  The world is [unfortunately] indeed going unhinged, but it is up to improve this otherwise grim situation.  We have that power – together!

Longer answer: 
This linked video.  “Authoritarianism & Propaganda | in the author’s words”

Please help me share this message far and wide.  Especially with people who thinks that the world going unhinged this does not pertain to them.  For us reading this article, we know it very much does… because we all live on this planet, right?

This is the first video that I’ve uploaded in a very long time.  Quite frankly because in the last couple of years I’ve been gone-gone.  As in floating in the middle of the ocean (while in uniform).  Therefore, I never really promoted my YouTube Channel until now.  I will be uploading more stuff every chance I get.  I actually have a bunch of cool footage and images that I very much want to share with the world.  Please subscribe so you can be notified when I upload new stuff.   Also, please be in the lookout for a Half Life Crisis Podcast in the [hopefully] near future.  I’ll post details in this very site and our social media.

Thank you for checking out the linked video and for spending this time with me.  Please let me know if you have any questions, or if you want me to expand on what we speak on this video.  Thank you again for joining me in this important journey.  HLC

Republican US Representative, Mike Johnson, from Louisiana was elected as the 56^th Speaker of the House on October 25, 2023.

I’ve been wanting to write this article for a few days already.  Finally, today I got a chance to sit down and write about the significance of this event. This is another historical moment, although there is quite a disagreement if this is a happy or challenging moment in our American history.  I will let you decide what is the answer to that question, but I must note that this is a far from straightforward issue.  There are lots of twists and turns in this situation.

Let’s start with the fact that the mere reason why a new speaker of the House had to be elected is because the previous speaker of the House, Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) was ousted in a coalition lead by Republicans themselves.  In particular spearheaded by Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.).  In case you were not aware, there was a sizable number of Republicans, not only in the House but across the country who had many choice words (not kind words at all) towards Rep. Gaetz for spearheading Rep. McCarthy’s ousting.

Rep. McCarthy was voted out on Tuesday, October 5, 2023, and the race for getting a new Speaker of the House was contentious to be fair (backstabbing to be borderline hyperbolic).  There were a few contenders for this position.  Many of which most people would not be able to pick in a height line, but the most prominently recognizable was Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) – the guy that seldom wears a jacket and who speaks very fast.   He tried repeatedly to get that post and ultimate failed to get elected even though Republicans hold the majority in the House of Representatives. In fact, there was a very vocal coalition against him.  Then again, Rep. Jordan likely burned a few bridges during his tenure.

Rep. Jordan failed to reach the coveted speaker of the House gavel after three attempts. To add insult to injury, each voting round awarded him fewer votes than the last.  Rep. Jordan has been viewed by many as a very polarizing figure in the American political discord no matter what side of the aisle you lean towards.  Obviously, what many would qualify as a controversial record has not helped him out in reaching across the aisle to gain Democrats support either, especially when he keeps talking smack about The Left.

It is worth noting that when the House had an open voting, a lot of the fellow Republicans voted in support of Rep. Jordan but, on the secret vote – in his own caucus where the names are not recorded as far how each representative voted – Rep. Jordan’s support was far less than what is in the no-secret vote.  Strange huh?  This is important to note, because it shows potential baggage on how the voting record of each representative can affect their political stances and incumbency.  Also, there were numerous reports of intimidation and downright threats to members of Congress and their families who openly voted against Jordan.

 

Blaming the Democrats.

It seems more like a talking point, a buzz word, or a trope for Republicans to discredit Democrats when it comes to some of the setbacks the Republicans in Congress have been facing in the past few weeks.  To be honest, much like most of the country I am sick of this partisan “us against them” mentality that keeps permeating our political system.  Votes seem to be going strictly down party lines regardless of the need for an actual dialog necessary to reach a win-win situation.  And by that I don’t mean a “compromise;” I don’t like the word compromise because a compromise leaves stuff out of the table – somebody gets disenfranchised.  I like a win-win situation.  A win-win is attainable (there is precedent in Congress about that in the voting record), but it takes more than effort.  That is why we elect people to positions of power to perform that demanding duty on behalf of ALL Americans.

So, I am sorry, but I will have to fly the bullshit flag when I see Republicans blame the Democrats for not voting in favor of the Republican caucus candidate.  Are Republicans willing to vote in favor of the Democrat candidate caucus?  No, they are not.  Therefore, it is unreasonable to think that either side would be compelled to vote outside party lines.   This needs to change, as I mentioned, but I don’t see an end in sight any time soon.

Republicans also have the majority in the House of Representatives at this time, however razor thin, so in either case the Democrats votes are less of those of the Republicans. Even if all Democrats voted unanimously over any issue, they are not going to win.  Do I wish things would be different?  Yes, of course, and I stated as much in the previous paragraph.  But, once again, it is exceedingly naïve to ascertain that there is going to be a truly bipartisan agreement based on the obvious gridlocks that we’ve observed in the last several years.

Case in point, Rep. McCarthy and other Republicans blamed the Democrats for voting in favor of removing him as speaker of the House.  I don’t know if this gaslighting that Rep. McCarthy and company are spewing works on anybody, but it is very patronizing to anybody who is actually paying attention.  The Democrats were starkly opposed to having Rep. McCarthy as the speaker of the House in the first place. They did not vote to elect him and, given the opportunity to vote to remove him, what the hell would Rep. McCarthy think they would do?  No Duh!  I mean, historically, it took Rep. McCarthy the most amounts of votes to gain the speakership in the first place (15 tries), and that was only after giving severe connections to the more extreme parts of his party who ended up removing him from his post anyway.  Like, nobody saw that coming. I did, even back in January.

Yes, the Democrats do have their choice for speaker of the House and his name is Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY). For this last vote, unsurprisingly, Democrats casted all of their 209 available votes for him in every ballot while Rep. Mike Johnson (R-LA) got all 220 votes (of course) from the Republicans.  Rep. Johnson, although a very obscure figure when compared to some other US Representatives who make headlines more often, is not without controversy.

For this article, I will not delve too deep into those controversies because I don’t want my words to be perceived as leaning towards favoritism or partisanship for, or against any personality.  However, some of these facts will not be easy to read for some people who might have a political bias at this particular time in our history. If the person was a Democrat and had the same baggage, I would be writing the same things that I am writing now.  To anybody with a political bias I would recommend them to check this same article in the future when the emotional factor is quelled.  Yes, emotional factors are deliberately part of the political discourse.  The good news is that facts are impervious to emotion.  The bad news is that there are a lot of people who vote based on conjecture instead of facts.

Why am I talking about emotional factors?  Simple, because our country political discourse is currently largely polarized based on emotions.  We need to return to some adequate level of pragmatism to realize what are the facts and underlining issues.  This is not the time in our history to be willfully ignorant, or to let our emotions take the best of us, especially whenever we face statements that [we] otherwise find challenging to our perception [of what we want to believe is true, even if it is not].

 

What is at stake?

Actually, a lot!  For starters, the extension to prevent having the US government shutdown expires mid-November.   We have been without a speaker of the House for over three weeks (22 days).  That is also important because during that entire time a lot of other significant events have occurred- among other things, the attack on Israel by the violent extremist group, Hamas.

When Congress lacks a speaker of the House then a lot of legislation that will afford our troops the funding to conduct operations comes to a stand-still.  It is worth mentioning that USA’s military role in this conflict is to prevent this situation from spilling and expanding away from the region.  A lot has happened in the last few weeks, but that is a topic for another article.  I have chosen not to write much about the Israel-Hamas conflict yet because of all the historical sensitivities that surround this struggle.  But, for anybody who thinks that these are not correlated somehow, think again. There is a lot more than what meets the eye riding on these events.  Anybody who has been paying attention to history in the last 70+ years will be able to explain to you why.

Which is a good segway to speak about why this new speaker of the House is significant during this time in our history.  Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson, has openly spoken about how his decision making and governing style derivates directly from biblical doctrine.  Is this a good or a bad thing?  Well, it depends if you happen to be in the same Christian Denomination as Johnson, or you are anybody else [for that matter].

By the way, he seems to subscribe to one of the many Baptists sub-denominations.  Aside from many specifically contentious theological doctrines,  he also subscribes to an Evangelical segment that believes in a young Earth believing that the world is ~6,000 years old.  This can be attested by his open support to the Young-Earth Creationist group answers in Genesis – meanwhile, the rest of the scientists agree that the world is 4.543 billion years old.  For any eagled-eye mathematicians that means many people who make a living on several independent established and demonstrable sciences had independently concluded that our planet is 4,543,000,000 years old, or 4,542,994,000 older than what young Earth Creationists assert.  I’ll let you be the judge of who is correct.  But I think you can imagine which number I lean towards in this issue.

Among other things, House Speaker Johnson’s political career is built on the claim that the USA should be governed as a Christian country.  There is a slight [euphemism for huge] problem that not everybody in America are Christians, and a follow up problem is that a lot of Christians do not agree in great swaths of their own doctrines. Hence, we have thousands of Christian denominations, although there is an estimated nine million Baptists (combining all branches for Baptists), and there is a further estimated 210 million Christians combining all denominations (including Baptists) in the USA.  Of course, there are 332 million people in the country.  So, let’s do a bit of quick arithmetic to show why this fact is significant:

332,000,000 US People
– 210,000,000 US Christians
__________
112,000,000 US non-Christians.

Are these 112 million people supposed to be mandated to convert to Christianity?  If you are in the group that says “YES”, let’s discuss and please answer, “Then what Christian denomination should we all convert to?”  House Speaker Johnson is a Baptist, so is every other Christian alright with following this denomination as the theocracy of the land?  Let’s use quick arithmetic to ensure we are capturing this reality:

210,000,000 US Christians
– 9,000,000 US Baptists
__________
201,000,000 Other-than-Baptists US Christian Denominations.

I am not trying to start a religious contention in this article, but if we are talking about a democracy, and the House representing ALL Americans, then this is an important topic to understand if religion in politics is playing a central role.  I was unable to discover how many exact numbers of Christian denominations exist in the US at this time.  I tried, and there is a lot of information that does not actually narrows it down, but instead it bundles a lot of larger segments of Christianity and does not give an exact number.

However, there are about 45,000 Christian denominations in the world.  So, under that metric, if we consider that the US is pretty much a microcosm of the world it is bound to have a similar number of Christian followers. For this experiment, we’ll divide people equally among Christian denominations in the world.  Since Christianity should be world-wide, correct?  Although these 45,000 denominations do not agree with their doctrines, if they did there would not be a need for divergence.

210,000,000 US Christians ÷ 45,000 denominations = about 3,889 people.

Why am I doing this?  Well, simple. Christianity, when combined with the many denominations, is indeed a huge religion. But, when you put it in separated denominations, there are a lot of minorities (as you can see in this rough average) that are religious with a common theme. They diverge very drastically in doctrine and epistemology.  In other words, it is very risky to proclaim only one denomination or religion as the law of the land.  But, if you’re still in favor of this please consider the following if you’re willing to convert anybody to Christianity:

For example,

What if the “Christian US” was all Jehovah Witness? Or…

What if the “Christian US” was all Latter-Day Saints (Mormon?) Or…

What if the “Christian US” was all Catholic with Augustinian doctrines? Or…

What if the “Christian US” was all Pentecostal? Or…

What if the “Christian US” was all Christian Orthodox? Or…

What if the “Christian US” was all Southern Baptist? I can go on with all the 44,994 remaining Christian denominations but I hope this makes my point.

Hopefully, this makes sense as to why there is a separation of church and state in the United States of America.  It actually PROTECTS your right to worship whoever, or whatever, you want which is freedom of religion.  For example, if you are a Southern Baptist, would you be cool with being mandated under Catholic Doctrine?  Which includes doing all the ceremonies and rituals under that doctrine?  And, of course, adjust your epistemology accordingly?  How about the possibility of instead of being allowed to practice your Southern Baptist faith, you are now required to be a Jehovah Witness?  They are also considered Christian.  Yes, I am very sure most Christians would not be cool with anybody imposing a denomination that is contrary to their current epistemology.  Well the same is pretty much true for anybody else, no matter what their current belief (or lack-there-off) they have chosen to follow.

Why do you think we don’t have a requirement to be forced into a particular religion?  Because otherwise we would not live in a democracy, or a republic for that matter, but rather we would be stuck in a theocracy.   For example, countries who live under Islam have a theocracy and the Koran and Sharia Law are the law of the land. If you don’t agree with it, well too bad because it is the law in those countries.  By the way, in Islam there is a death penalty for apostacy (or leaving the faith). Would you be OK if that happened in the United States, too, as a mandatory theocracy?

If that gives you pause, even a little, then the same feeling goes for anybody who does not agree with your own particular denomination.  That is why we have religious freedom.  The separation of church and state protects every religion and prevents any one denomination from becoming the mandate of the land.

I am spending some time on this religious leaning of the speaker of the House because he is so adamant about governing under his religious interpretation.  It worries me that under that metric not all Americans are being represented equally.  In other words, believe what you want, dude, but don’t force it onto anybody else.  Nobody is stopping him from being a hard-core Baptist. If that works for him, cool – but that does not give him authority over imposing his religious doctrines onto everybody else from the third highest office in the land. In other words, please respect all other 323,000,000 non-Baptists in the country. Want examples about the world-views he wants to impose?  Sure:

1. He is very vocal against LGBTQ+ people.  He wants it to be criminalized. He is on record stating as much, and how he disagrees with what he considers as “a choice.” Being LGBTQ+ is not a choice, much like being straight is not a choice.  You are either straight or not.  So, if you’re in that 7% of the US population, he has made some pretty inflammatory comments about you.  My position is simple; love the person you love and spend your life with them if it is mutually consensual.
2. Among the same misunderstanding he believes that LGBTQ+ leads to bestiality. For example, erroneously stating LGBTQ+ would be inclined to marry their pets. That is a very slippery slope that dehumanizes people.
3. He has a very deep misunderstanding of evolution, and to add insult to injury he also based that on some public statements he has made regarding school shootings (look it up but it might make you mad).

 

How did we get here?

Yes, that begs the question, how is it that we ended up with House Speaker Mike Johnson? Well, it might be by design. There were two other candidates for speaker of the House who gained the majority nomination to run by the Republican caucus, but they voluntarily stepped down.  The most recent example is Rep. Tom Emmer (R-Minn).  He was the Majority Whip, and his voting record does show bipartisan participation.  He resigned even before the vote came to the floor, and only four hours after his nomination.

Rep. Emmer, however, did not enjoy former President Trump’s good graces.  Trump had called Emmer, among other choice words, a “RINO”- or Republican in Name Only- which is some sort of insult that conservatives throw at each other if they are “not conservative enough.” What is interesting to me is that it’s likely that Rep. Emmer could have gained political support from the Democrats to be elected as speaker of the House because his voting record already reflected a willingness to work across the aisle on certain key issues.  As a political strategy that would have been very inconvenient to the Republican’s narrative that the Democrats are not willing to work with the Republicans on electing a Republican Speaker of the House.

Of course, that was very true with candidates such as Rep. Jim Jordan, and it was true with Rep. Mike Johnson, but although we will never know how it would have been with Rep. Emmer- because the vote did not come to the House floor- I have a feeling that Rep. Emmer might have been able to get at least a few votes from some of the Democrats.  In fact, that would have been a wise move for the Democrats because that would undermine any narrative that they are unwilling to work with the Republicans to reach agreements across the aisle.   Selecting Rep. Mike Johnson was very likely to prompt the all-so-common voting we see segmented by party lines.

As I mentioned before, the voting record is designed to be a tool for good, but it can also be politically compromising, especially when it comes to lobbyists or other special interest groups.  Most Americans won’t care much about the voting record a politician cast for whatever legislation reaches the floor, but those who fund campaigns do pay attention to that closely.  I am not necessarily talking about grass-root donors but instead, those who have a lot more money to spend.  And, no, that kind of spending money in politics is not just altruistic, but there is an expected return on investment.

Far from implying that, House Speaker Mike Johnson is coming with a nefarious agenda, and I am just stating the obvious. There is a valid reason for why House Speaker Johnson was selected to take this role. Although Johson is far less vocally-famous than more polarizing figures such as Rep. Jim Jordan, House Speaker Mike Johnson’s voting record and career have spearheaded several issues that have been very contentious in the American political discourse.  Let’s list just a few for your information:

• He is pro-Election Denial, in asserting that former President Trump won the election (this is a very important factor, and I’ll expand more on that shortly). In fact, he was one of the architects of this narrative that is now better known as “The Big Lie.”
• He blamed the last mass shooting on “the human heart.” In case you were not aware, the last mass shooting was in Maine and is the deadliest one in 2023, and 2023 has already experienced 565 mass shootings. And, yes, that is more than previous years. It just keeps getting worse and worse. He is very much against common-sense gun regulations which by the way the majority of Americans support (which is not the same as confiscation of firearms, by the way – a lot of liberals also love their guns and some tend to own quite the collections).
• We already discussed his issues against you if you happen to be a LGBTQ+.  He was in favor of criminalizing what consenting adults do in the privacy of their own bedroom.  Not sure why anybody should care what consenting adults do in their bedrooms no matter if they are straight or LGBTQ+ – just staying, that’s creepy.
• He wants to impose his religious views onto the rest of the country, which is what he did before being elected to Congress. He was an attorney who fought in favor of some controversially-charged religious issues.
• His voting record goes against climate and clean energy policies.

And I can go on, but if you do a quick Google search you will find enough material to read for hours so I will leave it at that for now.  I mostly want you to have a timeframe of reference in case you want to do more research in the future. But I will return to the one that I find most contentious, and that is the election denialism.  Let me explain why this is such an important issue.

 

Why is election denial dangerous?

First, a few facts.  Former President Trump did not win the 2020 election. There have been multiple lawsuits to contend the election results and they all failed. Many other criminal charges have been levied against Trump and some of his followers that categorically demonstrate that his narrative of a stolen election were found false.  In fact, a few of his attorneys who were pushing this narrative flipped on him now that they are face-to-face with serious criminal charges.  But there is a more important issue, and it is that this narrative of a stolen election is convenient to countries who do not want America to remain the shiny city on the hill.  What does that mean?

Well, simple. There are a lot of authoritarian countries out there who are bidding for becoming the number one nation in the world.  That would mean that whatever narrative of authoritarianism they spew would become the new normal.  America does have room for improvement, but we are not in a political climate whereas if you speak out of turn the government will drag you out of your house and make you “disappear.”  But those disappearances, or violent repercussions, do happen in other countries where elections are actually a sham.

The election in 2020 was the most secure election thus far.  Trump lost the popular vote and the electoral college in 2020.  In 2016, Trump lost the popular vote but won the electoral college.  There are simply fewer people who wanted to have Trump remain President of the United States.  So, it should be a credit to Trump that under his watch the election was not rigged, yet he is somehow telling the world that he was presiding when election fraud occurred.  Such a gigantic problem would actually not be good optics for his ability to govern, just saying.  Yet, in the same election, a lot of Republicans did win a few races and they did not contest those results, including Mike Johnson’s ballot. Bizarre, huh?

Anyway, claiming election fraud in the US would make other countries in the world seem “acceptable” to have rigged elections.  In other words, “if the US has rigged elections being the leader of the world, then it would be normalized to the rest of the world.”  Now, that is a convenient narrative to all of those authoritarian countries.  But, fortunately, the merits on the evidence do not hold any water.  Let’s explore.

Commonly you hear the trope that President Biden did not hold big rallies like Trump as the smoking gun for why there was election fraud.  So, let us dispel this very quickly.  Democrats do not really go to rallies, and if they vote they will vote but that does not mean they will be wrapping themselves with their candidate’s regalia while spending copious amounts of money to support their candidate of choice.  They will just show up and vote, and perhaps donate some money to their campaigns, but otherwise they do not make a big fuss over it.

For example, it’s very unlikely that you will see Democrats buying hats, shirts, hoodies, flags, merchandise, and stay in line for a rally hours before any of their people speak.  Instead of spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on that, they would instead donate to a campaign up to whatever is the allowed amount.  Instead of spending on merchandise, they will listen or read what they have to say in the platforms that they consume.  For example, instead of going to a rally to view the candidate as they speak, they will login to a website and hear what the candidate has to say from the comfort of their own home.  Also, 2020 was smack in the middle of COVID-19 and Democrats preferred to stay home and social distance than going out to rallies and, by doing so, minimize the chance of getting infected with COVID.  And, yes, many of them also listen to Right-wing news, they just don’t agree with their narrative.

However, these factors have mostly been forgotten by some of the Right-wing voters.  Some don’t even know what happened on January 6, 2021, and that is already startling.  By the way, that is the day of the insurrection and assault on the Capitol in Washington D.C. and what caused former President Trump to be impeached for the second time.  There are many criminal proceeding and charges against Trump because of that, even though it took more than two years for the indictment to come to light.

The point is that a lot of otherwise very caring and good people who are currently supporting some of the more extreme policies were simply not afforded the full story by their outlets of choice.  In other words, Republicans and Democrats can and have worked together, even if they don’t agree on everything. But there is a lot more of what makes us similar than different.   That is not convenient to some people who want to push a certain agenda.  We have politicians who repeat adversarial talking points verbatim and their constituents parrot them as well.  Some people will follow this agenda because they have been lied to while others do so because they are willfully trying to deceive their base.

I have heard the point of views of many so called MAGA Republicans, and they are indeed good decent people, very patriotic, and have a lot of love for the country.  But I say this with a lot of love in my heart; they have not been afforded the full story and, yes, I have told them as much in person while giving them an opportunity to see the full context.

It is actually very startling to see how much Republicans actually agree with Democrats on some common denominator policies.  In conversations with both sides I’ve noticed they were onboard with certain doctrines BEFORE they knew that those were political policies that they thought they were supposed to dissent upon.  It’s fascinating!  I find it very disturbing that good people are being utilized by certain politicians to spread misinformation.  If you are a MAGA Republican, it will do you well to read and listen to news that are not from your usual “trusted” outlets- both, from the US and internationally.  You will discover the obvious, and that is that some of the key information is not making it to your ears.  Some of that misinformation is forcing your vote, but this vote is actually against your best interests.

Whether you love or hate Trump is not the issue, here, but the fact is that he has 94 criminal charges and several civil lawsuits.  He is also not winning on any of them.  Understand that some of those judges were appointed by Trump himself.  And any person who was his supporter but had to dissent- well, Trump disavowed them exceedingly fast.

It is worth mentioning that if you file even ONE charge for a case (for example pertaining to an indictment or a lawsuit) [especially] against a high-profile figure that means that actual evidence exist in order to bring said case to court.  Especially in high profile cases attorneys would prefer not to risk losing their bar license for bringing a frivolous case to trial – especially if it cannot be won on the merits. The US Government is not in the business to bring a trial they don’t think they can actually win – and if they bring a case will be armed with evidence they gathered well before goes to trial.  This realization can be very traumatic for people who have a deep level of devotion towards Trump (or anybody else who enjoys their devotion for that matter).

But it will, just like breaking up with a significant other that sometime in your past gave your butterflies in your stomach.  The facts in the end will dictate how that relationship will survive.  Some of the people who flipped on him [Trump] felt that their relationship with him was not as positive as they originally envisioned.  You might be one of them, too, in the future. Who knows? The fact is that, although very vocal, the MAGA voter just happens to be dwindling for the very reason I just mentioned, and I have met a bunch.

They loved Trump, and they tried to prove somebody else wrong before they found out the [verifiable] truth available pretty much everywhere else, except their usual go-to media outlets.  Then they got mad at Trump, and now they are not MAGA Republicans anymore.  Still pretty awesomely patriotic Americans, though.  Some others (who did not particularly like nor dislike Trump) already realized some that otherwise freely available information before giving Trump a chance to galvanize his power over them.  That is why Trump would call anybody else “fake news” – even outlets he previously endorsed if they said something critical of him at some point.   It would be counterintuitive if he didn’t – obviously he does not want his fans to hear anything that could be considered disparaging.

A pretty sizable segment of the MAGA Republicans are indeed very patriotic and spirited but we also have to remember that all MAGA or non-MAGA are also required to understand that the world is a lot more complex than what is being afforded in many outlets.  I am willing to bet that MAGA Republicans will not be very happy with Trump if they actually figure out that not everything relevant for their decision making and devotion has being percolated in the rallies and their outlets of choice.  There is simply a lot that whomever are controlling the narrative are not telling them [MAGA supporters].

How do I know?  Well, I have been looking at a lot of MAGA outlets and I can tell you that there is a lot of pertinent information that is being left out. This information could indeed change a MAGA mind. I’m not even kidding.  Don’t take my word for it. The factual and official information is available to you.  That includes information about the topic within Today in America. And, yes, I have met a lot of ex-MAGA people who were not super happy with Trump after they learned about the full context.  Try to prove me wrong. The information exists and it only requires critical thinking and intellectual honesty.  Look at the official records that are posted for public consumption.  I have even posted some on this site. I only write facts so you’re welcome to prove me wrong, but that means you will have to do some research outside of your usual outlets. In the end, you’ll be happy to embark on that research adventure. Please let me know in the comments how it went. Happy research! HLC

 

In an unprecedented event, the Speaker of the House was ousted by members of his OWN PARTY!  Let’s talk about it before this gets forgotten in the news cycle.

 

For the first time in U.S. History the Speaker of the House seat has been voted out of office.  That was a couple of days ago.

On Tuesday, October 3, 2023 Republican Representative and Speaker of the House, Kevin McCarthy was voted out of his post. This is the first time in the history of the United States of America that a Speaker of the House has been essentially fired, and the majority vote included his own party no less.  Yes, the fragmented Republican voted out his own leader.

Granted that this historical moment occurred on Tuesday, but the following Wednesday and Thursday have not been any less bizarre.  In fact, I have been trying to start this article more than a few times since Tuesday.  But just as I am starting to write something, there are other breaking news and additional news that add to the context.  If you are familiar with my writing style, I will never sacrifice exactitude for the sake of brevity.  Afterall, these articles are meant to be a chronical portrait – an instant in our American history.  I will aways choose to add important [and relevant] data points to the discussion if it provides a better understanding.

 

So what is going on?

Today all these news will seem bizarre, and in years from now when we revisit this time frame – it will likely remain bizarre.  Dare I say, exceedingly frustrating.  I have to admit, it is actually frustrating even right now.  Why?   There are very important situations in the crux of our world history, and with America being front and center of all this massive paradigm.  And when we see something that most pundits would characterize as political theater the whole situation is distracting.  Most importantly it is a win for other regimes who do not particularly like America, and they point at our political discourse as a win for their own governing style.

And to be clear this situation with Kevin McCarthy being ousted has been telegraphed for a long time.  How long might some would ask?  Well, for some of us who saw the writing on the wall, pretty much from the time he ran for the position as Speaker of the House.  McCarthy also made history back then when it took 15 ballots for him to be elected in January 2023.  And that was only after a handful of Republicans voted “present” to lower the vote threshold.  Not a promising start… a bit ominous, perhaps?

The votes were of course divided through party lines. Since the House of Representatives had a slim Republican Majority, all Democrats voted against McCarty and in favor of Representative (D) Hakeem Jeffries of NY, who was serving also as the Minority Leader.  Representative (R) Kevin McCarthy of California who was the Majority Leader was still short even within his own party.  There was also a group of so called MAGA Republicans, which includes Representative (R) Matt Gaetz of Florida.  The latter is the Representative who started the process to outs McCarthy out of his post.

So just to recap, these are the six Republicans who were blocking McCarthy from being elected in the first place.  Yes, you will see some familiar names in this article:

– Rep. (R) Andy Biggs – AZ
– Rep. (R) Lauren Boebert – CO
– Rep. (R) Eli Crane – AZ
– Rep. (R) Matt Gaetz – FL
– Rep. (R) Bob Good – VA
– Rep. (R) Matt Rosendale – MT

So, is this surprising?  Not at all, in fact I wrote previous articles on how this rocky relationship unsustainability seemed not as a matter of if but when.  Unsurprisingly, many Republicans are not happy with Gaetz at all because of this move.  And the more I learn how this came to be, the more discombobulated this entire situation has been evolving, it is actually mind-bending.  Many of Gaetz fellow Republicans had some very poignant words to describe him.  These include but not limited to “pathetic, charlatan, creepy.”  Hey, their words, not mine.  It did not help that each time Gaetz would do a political stunt like this he would use it as a fund-raiser.  And yes, he has been called out to his face on that – by other Republicans, no less.  And yes, in the House floor.

So how did he get this much “love” from his cadre?  Well, for instance Republican Representative Matt Gaetz put a Republican Speaker of the House, Kevin McCarthy in a precarious situation as Gaetz spearheaded a cadre of 21 Republicans who were pretty much onboard with shutting the government just a few days ago.  To keep the government open, McCarthy had no choice but to team up with the Democrats in order to get enough votes in order to secure the decision for the Government not be shut down at the 11^th hour.  Gaetz complained in front of the entire world that McCarthy did wrong by teaming up with the Democrats; yet Gaetz will immediately move to push for a motion to vacate the Speaker of the house position, and was able to do so by getting the Democrats to vote to vacate the Republican Speaker of the House in addition to the eight Republicans who also voted against McCarthy.

Yes, that happened… it would be funny if it wasn’t so weird.  Eight Republicans joined the Democrats to vote Republican Representative Kevin McCarthy as speaker of the House.  The final tally was 216 to 210.   In the meantime Republican Representative Patrick McHenry of North Carolina is serving as the “Speaker in the Interim.”

In case you are wondering who are the Republicans who voted to take the seat away from McCarthy, these are the names (you’ll see some familiar names from the government shutdown vote):

– Rep. (R) Matt Gaetz – FL (no surprise there, he started all this)
– Rep. (R) Andy Biggs – AZ
– Rep. (R) Tim Burchett – TN
– Rep. (R) Eli Crane – AZ
– Rep. (R) Bob Good – VA
– Rep. (R) Nancy Mace – SC
– Rep. (R) Matt Rosendale – MT

And in case you were wondering if the majority of Republicans in the House of Representatives are upset at Matt Gaetz, then your assertions are spot on.  McCarthy himself during his rather sad “farewell from the House Speaker” seat speech had a few choice words against Gaetz.  Among other epithets, it seems that “charlatan” is one of those that fellow Republicans seem have it trending.  There has been some chatter about trying to outs Gaetz as well.  To be honest, I would not be surprised.  Seeing the political discourse devolve from afar seems like a bizarre new normal.  I have to admit I am looking forward to a time when the prestige of what the House of Representatives is supposed to be returns to that point of proper decorum.

McCarthy also had a few choice words against the other Republicans who ousted him, and of course he had no love for the Democrats.  No surprise on the latter.

But back to the House of Representatives decorum, even if they disagree in policy, that is why debates in the House floor are part of the process.  However, political theater is not conducive to address all the other important factors our country needs to resolve.  And I say factors, because these issues are multipliers.  However, this bizarre political theater, to include this civil-war among republicans in their own party remain very divisive.  I am concerned that the reason why more people seem to be paying attention to politics is because it is resembling a reality show.  That is not good news for the prestige of our country at a macro geopolitical stance.  The good news is that another election is around the corner and hopefully this political theater will also serve to drive more positive change support to the polls.

What do I mean?  You might or might not be surprised to learn that a lot of Americans decide to stay home instead of going to the polls and vote.  And sadly, a pretty sizable group of people who actually goes to the polls and vote are misinformed about actual policies and the candidate’s platform and doctrines.  It is not unusual for a lot of people to vote on political affiliation rather than actual grasp on policy.  And by policy, I mean truly understanding their candidate of choice, and their opposition platforms (as in plural).

The intricacies of the political process are indeed complex, but that does not mean that we can all participate with knowledge in the process.  I envision an opportunity for our country to stop this bizarre political theater in this sacred chamber that is meant to represent our country.  The rest of the world is paying attention.  They use these spectacles as exhibit “A” to try to frame the mighty U.S. of A. as a dysfunctional and failing governing system.  Yes, our political discourse travels a lot farther than our domestic policy.  The world pays attention to what the Leading nation in the world does – and how they conduct business.  The good, the bad and the bizarre.

Do you know who is happy when we fight with political theater?  Well, I said it already but it is worth repeating.  The Regimes who do not want America to remain the leader of the world.  The process is arduous, but it has been in motion for quite a while.  And it started with eroding our trust in our government and institutions.  If these are errored beyond repair, then any other dysfunctional type movement system will seem “justified” to act with impunity.  In other words, a new normal will percolate.  I’m oversimplifying for the sake of succinctness, but we have to understand that is the responsibilities we hold as the leading nation in the world stage.

What is next?

Who knows?  Seriously, I think I will have to continue writing updates on this case.  I was even seeing reports that there is a group of Republicans who want to nominate former President Donald Trump as a Speaker of the House.  And guess what?  Despite all the criminal and civil cases against Trump, that situation is not that far from possible.  Yes, I am serious.

And by the way, Trump did have a bad day on his civil court for fraud in New York.  I’ll write another article about that at some point, I am sure there will be plenty to dissect.  But the trail is ongoing so you can look forward to that once we know how it will end.  But the point is that McCarthy ousting even overshadowed the fact that the former President of these United States was sitting in civil court today and the fact he was issued a gag order by the judge.  Yeah, that is pretty unique too.  Regardless, Trump did state that he would be willing to assume the position of Speaker of the house if drafted.

But he (Trump) is not the only one eye-balling the Speaker of the House seat.  Republican Representative Jim Jordan from Ohio is perhaps the most news-acquainted of all potential contenders.  Which is interesting, because Jordan was asked if he would support Trump as the Speaker of the House.  I have not been able to confirm this, but his answer was perhaps before he (Jordan) announced his bid to Speaker of the House.  Jordan’s answer was a nervous laughter and defection saying something to the effect that he wants Trump to be President again.  At the time I saw that I was no aware Jordan was a Speaker of the House hopeful.  But in hindsight his response demeanor makes perfect sense.

I saw a few other names of people hoping to run for Speaker of the House.  I am sure that the names will change – either add or decrease.  An interesting up-side with McCarty being ousted, then the “implied succession” of who should or should not be Speaker of the House has evolved.  In other words, it used to be a sort of a non-spoken rule that either the minority or majority Republican would be the candidate to compete for that coveted position.  After all the Speaker of the House position is the third person in line to the U.S. Presidency.

But just in case you are wondering who is planning on running for Speaker of the House, already as a person in office, here is the list:

– REP. (R) Steven Scalise – from Louisiana and current House Majority Leader
– REP. (R) Jim Jordan – from Ohio
– REP. (R) Tom Emmer – from Minnesota and current House Majority Whip
– REP. (R) Kevin Hern – from Oklahoma

And by the way – as a reminder, if you feel so inclined to run for that position, our system of government allows an American Citizen person who is not already a sitting Representative to run for Speaker of the House.  I do have a feeling that the most aggressive campaign will be pushed by Jim Jordan.  In case you are unfamiliar with him, he’s normally the one politician in Congress who tends to wear a yellow tie, light blue shirt and no jacket.  Oh, and he is a fast talker.

I am sure a lot of us will continue keeping our eyes peeled as these events continue to evolve; quite fast if I might add.  In either case, it seems that the civil war inside the Republican-wing of Congress won’t end anytime soon.  I am not naïve enough to ascertain that the political theater will end any time soon either.  But I will say that while this is happening, the clock is ticking toward the possibility that the government will in-fact shut down coming November 2023.  And I would like to think that is an issue that deserves a lot of immediate attention.  HLC